DISTRIBUTION OF PRINTED SUPPLIES. During the past year there were received and filled 11,918 requisitions from the various outside services of the Department calling for 8,821,689 blank forms, as compared with 5,860,337 in 1910 (an increase of 2,961,352, or 50.53 per cent), and 343,867 books and pamphlets, as compared with 269,418 in 1910 (an increase of 74,449, or 27.67 per cent). There were also received and filled during the year 709 requisitions for printed stationery, 380 of which were from offices and bureaus of the Department in Washington and 329 from the outside services. These requisitions called for 7,166,650 envelopes, 2,254,000 letterheads, 3,299,800 memorandum sheets, 8,100 stenographers' notebooks, 5,307 blank books, 970,800 index cards, 175,550 guide cards, 158,250 vertical folders, 131,503 blank forms, and 27,500 embossed envelopes. PUBLICATION WORK. During 1911 the Department, exclusive of the Bureau of the Census, issued 795 publications, against 798 in the fiscal year 1910. Twentyseven of these, against 28 in 1910, were printed in two or more editions, while a still larger number were reprints of issues of earlier years. These publications contain a total of 47,534 printed pages, as compared with 42,125 in 1910, and there were issued of them a grand total of 5,241,612 copies, against 3,363,323 in the preceding year. The following table affords a comparative summary of the publication work of each bureau for the past two years: The attention of the Division of Publications has, for the past two years, been directed largely toward the centralization within it of the work incident to the distribution of the publications issued by the several bureaus and offices of the Department, as required by section 92 of the act of January 12, 1895. This has been done gradually, only one bureau at a time being considered, until there remain only the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Standards which distribute their own publications; and arrangements are now being made for commencing at an early date the distribution by this Division of the publications of the latter. During the past year the mailing lists and reserve publications of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Bureau of Fisheries have been taken over in their entirety. Greater haste has not been made in this work of centralization because of the desire to perfect the working organization as far as possible while it is being built up, and because it is important that the distribution of the publications of any bureau be not suspended or interfered with, even for a hort time. There are many details in connection with each transfer the correct conduct of which requires the exercise of care in order that the main purposes of centralization-economy and efficiency-may best be subserved. This work falls altogether on the regular force engaged in the distribution work and must be done at times when work already in hand may not suffer. The large increase in the number of publications issued by the Department increases of course the labor in connection with the mailing and distribution of them. For instance, a year ago only about 12,000 publications were being mailed each day from the Division, whereas at the present time the number is about 19,000. Thus the work in connection with the distribution has within a year increased nearly 60 per cent. There has been installed in the Division of Publications a consolidated mailing list of all publications sent out by the Division. By consulting this list, or index, as it may properly be called, it can be ascertained in a moment just how many and what publications any individual receives. In compiling this index numerous duplications of names on mailing lists were detected, and a large number of inaccuracies in both names and addresses were discovered and corrected. It was also found that some of the publications were being sent in large quantities to individuals for distribution. This was believed to be a source of waste, and was brought to the attention of the heads of the bureaus involved, with the result that the practice was stopped. This index serves a number of useful purposes, not the least of which is its use as a guide when a request for a change in address is made. The great majority of these merely request the Department to change a certain address on its mailing lists. There are 78 such lists, and it was formerly necessary to examine each of these to see if the name of the individual appeared thereon. By consulting the consolidated index it can be seen at once on which lists the name appears, thus reducing to a minimum the time and expense required in making the change. The Division has installed also a record of issues of publications, by consulting which it can be seen at a glance how many copies of any publication have been printed, how many have been issued and when, and how many are on hand. Not only is this information available for each publication, but also for stated periods for all publications issued by a bureau and for all publications issued by the Department. This kind of information it was not formerly possible to procure, although frequently called for, without considerable delay and much clerical labor on the part of the several bureaus. As anticipated by the Department, the centralization within one division of the work incident to the distribution of all the publications of the Department has resulted in many economies and advantages to the service. Many thousands of dollars have been saved in the cost of stencils, containers or wrappers, labor, hauling, etc., while equally large savings have come from reductions in the mailing lists as a consequence of thorough revisions of them. And, more important still, there has been brought about a higher degree of efficiency in an important line of departmental work-that of disseminating information. SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. I have each year in my annual report had a word to say in favor of placing a nominal price on certain classes of public documents, because I am thoroughly convinced that it would restrict excessive demands from sources which frequently can not possibly be benefited by the publications, and thus leave the distribution of necessarily limited editions to those for whom they have the greatest interest or value. Already Tide Tables, Coast Pilots, and Coast Charts, issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey; Heads of Families, First Census of the United States, 1790, issued by the Bureau of the Census; and World Trade Directory, issued by the Bureau of Manufactures, are being sold by the Department or by the Superintendent of Documents. Steps will probably soon be taken by the Department to limit the distribution of copies of the Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards to those who are willing to pay for them a sum which will cover the actual cost of their production, though reprints of papers from the Bulletin will continue to be supplied free of charge. This rule could with advantage be extended to many others of the technical and scientific publications issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Bureau of Fisheries, and the Bureau of Standards, as well as to many of the costly statistical publications issued by the Bureaus of the Census, Statistics, and Manufactures. Practically all European countries have adopted the practice of placing a very low limit to the free distribution of public documents, and no doubt our Government will come to realize that in this way only can an effective check be placed on the extravagance and waste in public printing which has for so long been a source of complaint both in and out of the Congress. OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR. The following is a condensed summary of work done by the Office of the Solicitor during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911: Legal opinions rendered, formal and informal (memorandum)... Claims, injured employees compensation act (involving examination as to law and facts)... 505 3,055 408 Contracts examined (approved, disapproved, drafted, redrafted, modified; 84 159 204 73 Bonds, contract, examined (approved, disapproved, etc.; amounting to $647,345.50).. Bonds, official, examined (approved, disapproved; amounting to $285,000).. Insurance policies, construction, examined (approved, disapproved; amounting Total number of matters disposed of............. 1,580 6 968 7,042 BUREAU OF THE CENSUS. Much the greater part of the work of the Bureau during the fiscal year has been on the tabulation of the results of the Thirteenth Decennial Census. The usual annual investigations regarding statistics of cities, production and consumption of cotton, vital statistics, and forest products have been carried on, but none of the special investigations authorized by the permanent census act and intended to be pursued primarily during the intercensus period has occupied the attention of the Bureau. FIELD WORK. For these reasons the Bureau has had very little field work during the year. The field work on the population and agricultural statistics had been completed during the preceding fiscal year and also the greater part of the field work on the manufactures statistics. A considerable number of special agents were, however, employed during part of the year in the collection of statistics of irrigation called for by an amendment to the Thirteenth Census act, and a large expense was incurred in securing returns from institutions for the defective. and delinquent classes. The usual annual field work on the collection of cotton statistics and the collection of statistics of cities has also been pursued. The greater part of the permanent force of the Bureau, however, has been employed in the office at Washington in connection with the tabulation of the results of the decennial census, upon which work also a large number of temporary clerks have been employed. GENERAL SCHEME OF CENSUS PUBLICATIONS. During the year a general plan for the arrangement, publication, and distribution of the information derived from the census has been devised and is in process of carrying out. This scheme differs in important respects from that employed in connection with previous decennial censuses. The principal aim has been to disseminate the important results of the census in a form more convenient and intelligible to the ordinary reader than that heretofore used. The plan also contemplates a reduction in the expenditure for the distribution of the more detailed results of the census, which are of use only to libraries and a comparatively small number of individuals and institutions. It is conceived that most citizens interested at all in statistical matters desire to know the details with regard to the population, agriculture, manufactures, and mining industries of their own State and |